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Kinder Konnection gives children access to basic needs that will ensure effective school education.

About Us

Our Mission

Kinder Konnection delivers a broad range of services to underprivileged school children in order to take care of their year-round needs of essentials, and promote literary skills.

We offer a wide spectrum of essential items and literacy-centered services by partnering with schools: access to stationery, gift cards, books, authors, writing workshops and presentations, cultural performances, global awareness, and outreach into the most marginalized children’s communities.

Our Vision

At Kinder Konnection, we believe that every child deserves access to basic needs that will ensure effective school education. We are currently supporting seven public schools in Everett school district and will continue to expand to other schools in Washington State.

Our Team

Raji Ram

Director of Samskriti Kala Kendra (a community based heritage and culture organization), Special Ed. Teacher, music composer and Singer, Wanderlust, and Writer. She loves dogs, food, travel, World History, art, and home decor.

Children’s and Young Adult Writer. Volunteer at Society For Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, We Need Diverse Books, Pudiyador, and Sophia Way. She loves books, poker, TV, dogs, and South Indian food.

Our Story

Photo Credit : Avel Chuklanov on Unsplash

Raji Ram, a teacher with Everett schools did independent donation drives during the winter holiday season for the underprivileged school children in Everett schools. Every December, she collected gift cards and blessing backpacks with essential supplies from the families of her music students, neighbors and close friends.She distributed these to the underserved children in Everett schools for the last four years as part of Kinder Konnection project.

Ladha Mohan and Suma Subramaniam who were independently involved in other social causes/organizations were regular donors to the Kinder Konnection Project. We had a common goal towards supporting the underserved children in public schools and shared similar thoughts that brought three of us together.

In the last four years, the December donation drives helped some of the under-served children, but we wanted to take this to the next level to benefit more children across all public schools in Washington State. So in

2017, the three friends came together and decided to start a charity for children and make education accessible to them regardless of their social and economic backgrounds.

During this process, they discovered some key statistical information. According to the annual report by the Institute for Children, Poverty and Homelessness (ICPH):

Washington State has one of the highest levels of homeless students, and their numbers keep growing.

The number of homeless students in Washington State has grown by 30 percent from 2011-12 to 2014-15.

The homeless students are spread proportionately among cities, suburbs, towns and rural areas. About 43 percent live in urban school districts.

This information helped them define the organization’s goals. They decided to focus their efforts on underprivileged children, and provide all the basic and essential needs that will ensure effective school education. We collaborate and partner with the public school districts, KIT (Kids in Transition) and McKinney-Vento Homeless Education Act programs and provide year-round support through several donation, book-drives and literacy programs.

Get Involved

Photo by Alex Jones on Unsplash

Organize A School Supply Drive

If you would like to support us in-kind as an individual or as a group, please print our school supply list to collect and purchase supplies, pack them in a box, and contact us when it’s ready for shipping.

Gift Card Donations

Helping children in need can be as easy as buying a gift card. The donation of gift cards allows children and families to buy school supplies and other essentials including food, clothing, and shoes. We ask that gift card amounts be of $25 or more from the following recommended stores:

Fred Meyer

Target

Walmart

Toys ‘R’ Us

Office Depot

Staples

Organize A Book Drive

Organizing a book drive is a great way to invite your friends, colleagues and other like-minded community groups to give books to children in need. It’s also a fun way to donate to Kinder Konnection.

We love book drives! They help us send so many wonderful books off to those who need them. If you would like to hold a book drive, please keep our guidelines in mind.

Photo Credit : Eli Francis on Unsplash

Book Drive Guidelines

All books should be gently used or new children’s books or books suitable for elementary school kids to teens. No loose bindings, stains, coloring or torn pages. Books should be sorted by approximate grade level. It doesn’t have to be exact. They should be packed in a sturdy box.

Children’s books and books suitable for kids, pre-teens, and teens grades PreK-12 are welcome with the following exceptions:

Please let us know if you have any questions and contact us when you have a box ready for shipping. You will either be given the address of a school or an alternate address for delivery.

Workplace Giving and Fundraising Campaigns

We offer year-round services to kids in need. You can donate through your workplace as a single gift or spread your giving options throughout the year. If your company or business offers opportunities for payroll deductions or matching gifts, you could designate Kinder Konnection as your charity of choice.

Photo Credit : Vitaly on Unsplash

Gift Stock

Giving stock and securities is another easy way to make a donation. It is a stable source of donation that will help us plan for future projects. If you would like to donate stock, please contact us at kinderkonnect@gmail.com

Organize a fundraising campaign:

Photo Credit : Toa Heftiba on Unsplash

There are several ways to organize fundraising campaigns that will help us support under privileged children.
Here are some ideas:

Organize a bake sale

Organize a lunch, dinner or a wine-and-cheese party with a suggested donation

Organize a garage sale

Organize a giving drive at your kids’ birthday parties or other celebrations.